Prices are definitely out of hand with most of the studios. As someone collecting 1/4 scale pieces i set a hard pass limit of $1200 for myself on statues. If it costs more than that i'm automatically out.
Agreed. I think companies saw how quickly collectors jumped on the "hyper realistic" statues/busts that had a premium price, as well as things like IS's Sentinel trio, and now they're testing where the high-end cap is for the market. Obviously there are folks out there that wouldn't flinch at spending even more, but where's the ceiling for the working middle/upper middle class collector? This will let them find the edge of the pool fairly quickly, and then they can scale pricing/production cost as needed. It's a smart move- if you don't know your boundaries, you'll never know what you can get away with.
But each iron studio piece, even though 1/10 scale, has a massive almost 100% real metal sentinel and about 5 other fan favorite characters and amazing detailed story telling bases. It’s justified when u think of all that sculpture paint and work. A 1/6 scale with 2 characters with way less detail for over 10k is bananas.
@@Haveunerd I don't disagree, all good points. Especially when extrapolated across three pieces, the sentinels offer a lot of value. Based on the pre-production photos alone, the QUALITY in detail and paint application seems to be far superior with the FF piece. Just watch Mr X's review of his sentinels, it seems like scaled production left a few rough edges on them. That said, production could do the same to the FF piece. My point, simply, is that if folks were willing to spend thousands of dollars on sentinels, what's the cap? what combination of quality/detail/size vs price can they get away with? Prime1 will find out real quick with this one. There's tons of articles out already lambasting the price., but if the 600 edition size sells out, you know they'll have more coming soon.
I’m two years into this hobby. Looks like I’ll be out soon. Because all of these prices are getting way outa hand. Even if I wanted to purchase some of these, my wallet says otherwise
When I first started 15 years ago I was buying 1/4 scales for $300. I haven't bought anything in years but I check the current prices every now and then and it blows my mind.
Yes they are and the community is partially to blame. We pay crazy aftermarket prices for soldout pieces and unlicensed customs so companies clearly see there is money to be made on the front end. Especially when company owners are in some of the more prominent buy sell trade groups. Its not just inflation we have fueled the curve
I've only ever bought and collected 1 statue, and it's prime 1. I'm a massive NieR fan. so I simply had to have the diorama of all 3. I can definitely see based on this statue, in person, how prime 1 has really stepped their game up over time. I may not own other pieces, but I've seen pieces made in the past. the NieR statue definitely has 1 of the best bases I've seen, and having a dynamically posed 1/4th with 3 main characters on it, as well as another 1/4th built into the base of the statue, is just insane. to me at least. with how other statues are priced, and the fact the NieR statue comes 3½ 1/4th characters, I think the price is justified. as time goes on, statues can only become better and better as technology and demand improve.
@trevorveillette8415 I'm a Nier fan too and while your comment makes sense what doesn't is that they have a "new" Masterline statue that's just ONE statue of 2b for almost $3000 for the 'deluxe'. So yeah, they're definitely charging an ABSURD amount recently. 😅💔 and it sucks cuz I really want it, but $300 a month for like a year is INSANE!!!!!!!
i definitely agree with pricing being increased over time since prime 1 pieces are getting so elaborate and the way i look at each piece i buy is based off what value i think it holds to me personally so i may be willing to pay a bit more for my fav hero, but damn i about choked when i saw that price for the predator piece!
If P1 Batman Tactical Throne is over $2k pre ship + UK tax, I'm finding a new collecting hobby. World's falling apart anyway and money is best spend paying increasing living costs.
I have to agree with you on all points. Interestingly, Sideshow has kept their prices more reasonable (south of $1000) where other companies keep going up. I wonder if it's because they are opting to make their profits off large ES's, as opposed to other companies raising prices on the statue itself.🤔
Sideshow don't really strive for the highest quality, their products are very much middle ground and I guess their prices reflect that in general. Regarding ES however, prime 1 always try to have as high an ES as they can. They want their cake and they want to eat it also. That scummy 1/3 closed mouth predator head had a huge ES of 1500 despite its insanely high price. It also has three other varients all with open editions for now.
Well, to the defense of P1 regarding the Final Fantasy piece. They didn't set the price on that one. Square Enix did. But other pieces are getting out of hand. The city predator ultimate is also a joke. They are basically asking a new statue price for, what, 5 extra proximity pieces and a "low" ES. I am getting priced out of the hobby by rich Chinese wideboys lol...
Definitely agree with all the points made. Prime1 are making some great detailed statues but to the cost as a collector, I cannot afford to always buy them. It’s so sad that as for myself, a collector for many years, am finding it too expensive to purchase the statutes, plus the shipping to the uk. I would have loved to purchase the city hunter predator. On seeing the sample piece, I think it is better than the jungle hunter.
Oh my gosh so many laughs watching this haha! FF6 was dear to me as well, super excited until I found out I had sell a body part or two to get it as well. Always fun hearing your thoughts on crap like this
I bought the NieR Automata DX version Diorama and it was definitely mega overpriced. The only reason I bought it was because it's my first piece, I love NieR Automata and its probably gonna one out of a few statues I'll ever buy. If I was an avid collector I would've definitely passed hard on this.
I agree 100%. People wants to pay very little and then they go to Ebay and try to flip the statue for double of what they pay. Now, those same people are complaining about it. I hate this prices so I don't buy them. I really think is getting ridiculous and I will not contribute to that.
EVERY YEAR WILL BE THE SAME, AND WILL ONLY GET WORST. AS IT ALWAYS DOES WITH EVERYTHING. I KNOW YOU WILL STILL GET THEM ANYWAYS. SO HAVE FUN, AND GOOD LUCK. THIS HOBBY FOR ME IS NOT IN MY HEART ANYMORE. JUST A WHOLE LOT OF BAD EXPIRIANCES, THAT I DO NOT NEED IN MY LIFE, AND WHEN THAT HAPPENS. IT IS JUST TIME TO MOVE ON. I AM TIRED OF PEOPLE'S GREED, AND LIES. SO I HONESTLY HOPE THAT YOU KEEP ENJOYING THE HOBBY. GOOD LUCK, AND TAKE CARE MY FRIEND.👊🏽
yeah squares license is expensive. people thought NieRs statue was expensive and overpriced, and that's just NieR. a small title with a small fanbase, albeit a super dedicated one. now there's final fantasy which is a massive IP. so they can really milk that for money as opposed to a smaller IP like NieR. I'm curious just to see what else squares license will bring forth for statues. the producer of NieR, Yosuke Saito, said in the review trailer for the statue, that he would love to see one made of replicant Similar to automata since both games have a trio of main characters. would love to see what they can do and will do.
I’ve been speaking with my wallet the past couple of years. Was a big XM collector but some of the prices weren’t just silly they seemed ludicrous to me. So I haven’t bought one of their prices for quite a while now despite there being quite a few I really REALLY wanted (and still do) but you have to have your own line in the sand… and stick to it. What’s funnier still is that I have bought Prime 1 1/3 pieces the past 24 months because for every XM piece that I decided not to get on price, I justified a P1 1/3 for nearly the same price. That’s changed the past few months and just ordered what will likely be my last for a while: Punchline Joker… I love collecting these art pieces but it ms getting hard to justify when I used to be able to say “well it’s only the price of a small TV… now many of the cool pieces are the price of a home theatre system… or electric bike/scooter… go kart… 6 x PS5’s etc…. Getting very hard to see value in my $$’s in the new statues coming out
The only statues I'd pay over $1000 for are things I absolutely love, I've ordered the PCS Purgatori and may order the Dejah Thoris ( if they fix the awful base) but there is nothing else, unless they end up making a Salma Hayek from Dusk till Dawn, which apparently is a possiblity, but even with something like this I'd only buy maybe 2 a year, I'm still happy with a sideshow premium format when it's done right
I've been getting primarily custom 1:4 now. Can't afford licensed. Sideshow is still cheaper than my customs but their detail is shit. They may have passed a couple years ago but not in 2022.
I agree with you on all points except aftermarket prices being a good justification for price increases. The number of original buyers that will go on to sell a piece after purchasing at retail is very small percentage. That along with quality and community sentiment around a piece determines its value on the aftermarket. With that said even with the crazy markup in value on some few pieces only a small number of them will be available for sale to a very small number of people willing to and capable of buying that piece at it's new marked up price. Those collectors buying at marked up rates do not represent the statue buying community as a whole, as most collectors don’t have that kind of money to throw down all at once. As a counter to my last point, that is why payment plans exist, to give collectors with less means the ability to make unwise decisions. Still to allow the aftermarket to sway pricing in any meaningful way seems shortsighted to me and would show an inability to read the full picture I think. In the end I think the most salient point you made is that collectors are willing to pay these prices even though as a community many balk at them. And yet I find myself and many other collectors starting to hesitate where there was no hesitation before. Starting to say no when all we would have said previously was yes. The frogs in the pot have realized that they are being boiled, the companies need to take care not to push their luck.
I don't think the argument was saying aftermarket buyers represent the majority. I think the argument is that aftermarket purchases represent the golden opportunity- that a demand exists for people who will pay those high prices. I recently called out a popular TH-camr for selling his statues at the same prices as statues up for pre-order. Why would someone pay $1200 for a used statue when they could buy an updated version on preorder that's brand new? Pretty simple: he talked the piece up enough that people want it. Companies have caught on. They send pieces to TH-camrs to review, and the popular TH-camrs help reinforce some of the draw to purchase these statues, because the assumption is if they are reviewing it, they must have purchased it. That's why I love when Gem Mint highlights that he is reviewing a sample and does not own the piece. I've heard Mr. X do the same. And even further, Mr. X selling after market pièces for a super reasonable price sends the message that collectors still value affordability and a good deal.
@@bluscorpion I understand the reasoning being put forward. I'm arguing against the idea that it plays as big a role as many collectors seem to think. Yes, the aftermarket prices let the companies know that collectors are willing to and will pay more. However outside of P1 we are also getting ridiculous and steep price increases from other studios and many of those companies are not making pieces that go on to have massive markups in the aftermarket. It doesn't make sense with the line of thought being pushed about the aftermarket for a company like Tweeterhead which barely has any hits under their belt to be charging what they are for their new Joker or for PCS to charge as much as they have for Purgatori. The increase in price is industry wide and I think it's more out of necessity than many are willing to accept. There's two conversations going on here. One one hand there are pieces like the FF6 from P1xSE and the P1 City Hunter. On the other hand we have a general price increase for all statues across the industry. The former I can give some credence to the aftermarket theory with how insane those prices are and for the latter I really cannot see it being the case. Playing devils advocate, even if the aftermarket pricing played a huge role in the current pricing strategy of companies I think that would be very foolish strategy because of the points I mentioned in my previous comment. Lastly spill the beans. What youtuber is selling older pieces at marked up prices?
Great point of view! I totally agree with you on this one.. it’s like the housing market, if people are willing to pay those insane prices the companies building the house’s will go up. It’s simple math.
I love prime 1 statues the most but fuck those prices im glad they kept justice buster at 3k i thought that was high but these 5k+ price range is a no go
Man, with the whole country about to destroy itself from division I though we could at least agree Prime 1 was fucking crazy asking for $12k for… that. Nope! :(
@@TheXtremeChannelMrX I don’t think you can be crazy AND justified lol. I do not think this piece will sell out, or even sell 100 pieces. There is no precedent for a statue at this price point. I bought that Kong v Godzilla for $6k because it’s HUGE, it’s gorgeous, it’s a full blown movie scene! This is not that, not half that, and twice the price. Full Joker.
Square Enix pretty sure they can sell a lot out of 150 reserved for Japan. Even though the series creator question the price. If they only sell 100 total, it's still a win because of no license fee and no other retailers in Japan= max profit. Plus, there are people do not know/care about FF but love collect expensive stuffs to show off.
My jaw dropped when I saw that price. I thought it was a mistake, that they put the decimal in the wrong spot. No sane person will pay for this...I hope.
Great video Mr. X. I agree with all your points. The only people than can put a halt to increasing prices is THE CUSTOMER. When collectors finally make the decision that they will no longer purchase over priced statues, and the companies see their warehouses FULL of unsold pieces, then and only then will prices come back down to earth. If that doesn't happen, companies will price most of their customers out of the hobby. I've seen it happen with other hobbies. Don't think for a second that it can't happen here. Every beginning has an end.
There's making profit then there's fucking people sideways. 5k for a Predator piece? 12k for a 1/6 FF? That is just fucking insane. Not just P1, XM and SS are raising the prices but P1 takes the cake. They got popular and they wanna charge more now, a small portion of the customer base will keep buying and i guess that is enough for them. No way cost of a statue went x3/4 in the blink of an eye.
I agree 1000% with what you said here Mr.X. At the same time, I was one of those sour folks who really couldn't believe the price of that Terra Bradford statue. I was "for sure" in, until I wasn't. I do think these companies will continue to charge what people will pay but I also think the bottom has to drop eventually. There's so many options/choices now for collectors and people are getting much more picky in terms of what they are buying. good time to be a collector from that POV though!
I agree with everything you said Mr X. They have a right to charge these outrageous prices and I have a right to voice my objection by not buying the overpriced pieces. Best point in the video in my opinion is that these companies see what their pieces are going for on the aftermarket and figure they may as well get in on it on the forefront. Great video.
Well, I would say that whether a statue is worthy or not does not only depend on the cost. You can make a statue purely out of gold and charge for $100,000. Hardly anyone would think it's worthy in this case regardless of the cost.
Good video. Agree 💯. The more people will continue to spend their hard earned money, the more these companies will take chances increasing their prices.
I couldn't agree more. Prime 1 for example sold 1/3 pieces for 900$ now same size pieces are selling retail for 1500-1700$ and shipping at least doubled if not tripled
You are right prices are out of control and shipping is crazy it sucks that if you don’t have a pile of money for some of the ones you want and not just about the money the wait on some of these is nuts
There are some that have yet to hit the pre order status from P1. Now I'm nervous because they may price me out of the purchase. Hopefully they realize they're pricing us out of purchases.
Would have to agree with all said ! Just really looking at the collection and not going after ones that don’t fit!! Even if they are cool!! Thanks as always!!
It's true crazy how prices for everything are where they are. Me and my fiance have been trying to purchase a house for the last year but it has been a complete bidding war in South florida
I totally agree. High end collectibles are a market I know I cannot afford. Do I wish I could? Sure, but (as you stated) there will always be a market for them as long as collectors that can afford it purchase them. I say enjoy what you love if you can afford it.
Hulk. Good vid. Long overdue...what will it take for the statue bubble to pop, so we can get down to more normal pricing? ...We could make the same statement for shipping. We need a kong bust for under $3,400... hope they listen to you Mr. X...
I definitely agree with the way the pricing is it's a for-profit company and if people are going to pay and it's going to flip on the aftermarket a company is not going to leave that money on the table or my only other thought would be is to produce a larger amount of the statues and sell them at the cheaper prices. The one thing I will disagree with that I think needs to be worked on it shipping prices. I think that has went out of control and too many excuses to have these prices so over-inflated. Now if the company can show that they're not making a dime off of the shipping and they're giving their best discount because they're a corporation then it is what it is cuz that's the price from the company that shipping it. I just don't think it's fair if they make a dollar off shipping
The best example of the price increase is the new reissue of the original Berserker Armor Guts but just a bloody version. The original was $999, the new one is $1299. That’s a $300 increase, over 33% increase in price over a few years on the exact same statue.
My last statue i bought was hush superman for 1k direct from prime. Everday i go online and almost hit the button to buy jungle hunter 1/3 deluxe but on waitlist for deluxe bonus. If i get picked ,i will do it with just slight hesitation. These prices are insane now but the whole world is upside down . Just built a house and that was 50k more than expected.
I agree with you on a majority of this. The ultimate issue is we just went through a price increase with Prime1 that 1500-1700 range isn't that old.. more so given how slow they produce. If we are looking at 3k+ for pieces more often or even 2k+ for that matter demand will definitely decrease. I would still purchase a couple of pieces a year maybe (if they are amazing) but not as many as I normally would have.
I totally agree.. It's out of control and although I understand companies want to keep growing in size and revenue, there has to be someone in those companies sane enough to stop the non sense
These prices are shocking, but it's happening everywhere, even smaller scale collectables like Hot Toys & Games Workshop have shot up in price, doesn't help that tax & bills also go up yet wages stay the same, also the after market is changing too, I'm finding less bargains & more scalpers all the time
I really appreciate the thought you put into this video. Economics is an interesting topic and as long as people are willing to desire the exclusivity of owning a limited edition piece then the price will continue to rise. As long as the quality continues to match the price and doesn’t suffer ad it’s not over produced we there is not much room to gripe. Now I just have to try and explain that to my penny pinching sig other.
I totally agree with you. I honestly thought I read the price wrong on the hunter predator...I think I'm gonna get out pretty soon. Yes the statues are incredible, but it's so hard to consider such prices...obviously not too hard for some, as prime 1 is already saying low stock on the predator. Thanks always for your honest opinions and great video.
Interesting video. For many years i have been a collector of period artifacts, antiques and art, these things can be very expensive but they are extremely rare and mostly handmade by elite craftsmen using the finest materials. It's difficult to justify spending large amounts of money on mass produced chunks of moulded 'plastic'! Ultimately, one votes with ones wallet, each to their own but I couldn't help feeling cheated by these costs, given what these things are made of. I shall stick with my taxidermy, duelling pistols, furniture and art. Pricey, for sure but exquisite quality and beauty will win every time!
@@spinnerrackstudios Hahaha, I have often thought of doing one but the wife isn't keen, plus my superhero pieces wouldn't be of interest to most of the modern collectors. Our Deyrolle stuffed vulture and Faure Le Page 17th century duelling pistols in particular are sensational! It's fair to say that we're quite an eccentric couple 8-)
As a Transformer Movie fan i like prime 1 studio optimus prime the last knight statue . It motivates me a lot like his personality and voice and commanding type. It's my dream to achieve it. I think you also inspire from these statues and thank for showing your these collection i am happy to see it and you are right about price hike and company who are making a lot of money.
Ya I noticed that too the price was crazy. I recently bit the bullet on a 1445US diorama an AOT jimei palace, I usually keep my budget normally under 1400 as much as I can, anything over that its a coin toss. Even small 7inch pvc figures are costing like $300. I definitely will have to be selective with what I buy. Only thing is when u see a masterpiece that's all it can take to suck you in, but $12k licensed or not thats pushing it to far, thats just P1 being greedy.
Just wow😲 on the price for that final fantasy statue, I figured it would be around the cost of a 1/3 knowing it 1/6 but with so much detail, I do think it's of a higher quality. Its beyond me to justify that price point, other than they know it will sale, so why not. I do think you raised valid points on the way the markets work, in general as well as in the collecting community. In the end I think the most reasonable path is to vote with one's wallet🧐. I love many different collectibles but, in the end I only order if I feel the price asked matches what is for sale as well as my budget.
Yeah secondary market prices may have had a huge impact on the company's decision.And when less people start buying statues due to high price,they will just reduce the ES,like XM did.Only worthwhile pieces are some custom groups.Also I am now more into getting anime statues,lots of companies in the game and that keeps the price fairly down for unlicensed pieces
Valid points. Ill pay my last preorders - only a handfull from Prime 1 and 20 or so 1:10 from Iron Studios, and then Ill be on low heat, only picking up the occassional trade or one special yearly preorder.
First saw Prime 1’s FF7 piece screenshot priced over $16K. Months after I started buying a Prime 1 and Queen Studios pieces, now it’s putting my chips into one or two baskets.
Yes, there fucking crazy. Especially that Final Fantasy statue. I just hope collectors speak with their wallets with this shit or it's just gonna get worse.
Well, two years on since getting my Hush Poison Ivy, I today took a look at the current Prime 1 range, thinking I might contemplate another statue. Only to find the prices have more or less doubled since then. That counts me out of any further purchases from them. Seriously way too much. This reminds me of the vastly inflated GPU prices of a year or two ago which were driven insanely high partly by people willing to pay those prices for the 'must have' next gen cards (along with blaming rising manufacturing costs, pandemic etc). But unlike those, this statue market is almost certainly not going to 'stabilise' and prices drop again in the way GPUs did. More's the pity. But yep, silly, as nigh on 100% inflation in the space of two years or so is simply profiteering in extremis. Well, it was nice knowing Prime 1 for that brief period in time...
I'm at a point that I buy only a handful of brand new statues a year from companies like P1, most of my statues I buy secondhand. This is not by chose but by necessity
Last year Prime1 asked 700$ for shipping 1/4 statue to Europe. (I cancel order because 700 for statue + 700 for shipping and 20% EU tax is too much for me)
But the thing about those increased aftermarket prices on those statues is there’s only a few people who are paying that price, it’s not everyone. They can charge more money but they’ll most likely have smaller batch numbers and sell less in the long run.
Yeah, prices are getting insane and they are still selling out. I'm digging PCS right now because prices are looking really nice since they've fallen out of favor for the moment.
I can't remember where I heard this but someone once said that something is worth whatever people are willing to pay. This not only applies to us statue collectors but to everything else as well, IE cars, clothing, groceries, etc. Some of these price hikes are legitimate but a lot of times it's just greed and that's just sad.I am fortunate that my house is paid off but look at the housing market, the prices are outrageous as well as renting nowadays.
I am a fairly new collector (started just over a year ago). And when i started this hobby i reallyhoped to own a prime 1 statue someday. But recently when i see their prices i just decided that it is not worth it and i just not going to look at them anymore. I mean what's the point? If you can't afford it, why look at it? I am just going to keep an eye out for their berserk puece that they recently announced (the griffith and guts diorama) if that is too expensive than i am just going to forget about them all together
Prices are definitely out of hand with most of the studios. As someone collecting 1/4 scale pieces i set a hard pass limit of $1200 for myself on statues. If it costs more than that i'm automatically out.
Good limit
Good rule. So no The Batman Statues for you?
I got the same mindset. It makes you appreciate the statues that you buy more.
What if it's a diorama with two characters?
Funny you say that because a lot of these amazing 1/4 scale video game pieces are 1300+ now.
13000 for a 1/6 scale?!?! Pass. I feel bad for genuine Final Fantasy fans.
Yes, the pricing is getting way out of control. Collecting is going to become a more restrictive/selective process for me personally.
Agreed. I think companies saw how quickly collectors jumped on the "hyper realistic" statues/busts that had a premium price, as well as things like IS's Sentinel trio, and now they're testing where the high-end cap is for the market. Obviously there are folks out there that wouldn't flinch at spending even more, but where's the ceiling for the working middle/upper middle class collector? This will let them find the edge of the pool fairly quickly, and then they can scale pricing/production cost as needed. It's a smart move- if you don't know your boundaries, you'll never know what you can get away with.
But each iron studio piece, even though 1/10 scale, has a massive almost 100% real metal sentinel and about 5 other fan favorite characters and amazing detailed story telling bases. It’s justified when u think of all that sculpture paint and work. A 1/6 scale with 2 characters with way less detail for over 10k is bananas.
@@Haveunerd I don't disagree, all good points. Especially when extrapolated across three pieces, the sentinels offer a lot of value. Based on the pre-production photos alone, the QUALITY in detail and paint application seems to be far superior with the FF piece. Just watch Mr X's review of his sentinels, it seems like scaled production left a few rough edges on them. That said, production could do the same to the FF piece. My point, simply, is that if folks were willing to spend thousands of dollars on sentinels, what's the cap? what combination of quality/detail/size vs price can they get away with? Prime1 will find out real quick with this one. There's tons of articles out already lambasting the price., but if the 600 edition size sells out, you know they'll have more coming soon.
I’m two years into this hobby. Looks like I’ll be out soon. Because all of these prices are getting way outa hand. Even if I wanted to purchase some of these, my wallet says otherwise
Agreed, I'm also 2 years in, and with the way prices are going, I'm probably fortunate I don't have space for many more 1/4 or 1/5 scale size pieces.
When I first started 15 years ago I was buying 1/4 scales for $300.
I haven't bought anything in years but I check the current prices every now and then and it blows my mind.
Same, I’m looking at my end game. Buy a few more to finish up my collection and I’m out.
I've broke the bank trying to pay off statues under £1000. I was expecting something more in the range of £1500 tops. Disgraceful.
Yes they are and the community is partially to blame. We pay crazy aftermarket prices for soldout pieces and unlicensed customs so companies clearly see there is money to be made on the front end. Especially when company owners are in some of the more prominent buy sell trade groups. Its not just inflation we have fueled the curve
I've only ever bought and collected 1 statue, and it's prime 1.
I'm a massive NieR fan. so I simply had to have the diorama of all 3. I can definitely see based on this statue, in person, how prime 1 has really stepped their game up over time.
I may not own other pieces, but I've seen pieces made in the past.
the NieR statue definitely has 1 of the best bases I've seen, and having a dynamically posed 1/4th with 3 main characters on it, as well as another 1/4th built into the base of the statue, is just insane. to me at least.
with how other statues are priced, and the fact the NieR statue comes 3½ 1/4th characters, I think the price is justified.
as time goes on, statues can only become better and better as technology and demand improve.
@trevorveillette8415 I'm a Nier fan too and while your comment makes sense what doesn't is that they have a "new" Masterline statue that's just ONE statue of 2b for almost $3000 for the 'deluxe'. So yeah, they're definitely charging an ABSURD amount recently. 😅💔 and it sucks cuz I really want it, but $300 a month for like a year is INSANE!!!!!!!
Great video. I’m not “priced out” per say… but I’m not paying thousands of dollars for a piece.
What's the most you'd pay for a piece?
Some people are goona pay those ridiculous high prices just to show off
i definitely agree with pricing being increased over time since prime 1 pieces are getting so elaborate and the way i look at each piece i buy is based off what value i think it holds to me personally so i may be willing to pay a bit more for my fav hero, but damn i about choked when i saw that price for the predator piece!
yup, Prime 1 prices reflect their dominance in their market niche
If P1 Batman Tactical Throne is over $2k pre ship + UK tax, I'm finding a new collecting hobby. World's falling apart anyway and money is best spend paying increasing living costs.
I have to agree with you on all points. Interestingly, Sideshow has kept their prices more reasonable (south of $1000) where other companies keep going up. I wonder if it's because they are opting to make their profits off large ES's, as opposed to other companies raising prices on the statue itself.🤔
Sideshow don't really strive for the highest quality, their products are very much middle ground and I guess their prices reflect that in general. Regarding ES however, prime 1 always try to have as high an ES as they can. They want their cake and they want to eat it also. That scummy 1/3 closed mouth predator head had a huge ES of 1500 despite its insanely high price. It also has three other varients all with open editions for now.
12000 dollars for that is simply insane. Then again so is 900 for a head. Miss me with that wow
If mr x is saying the prices are fucked up then you know it’s out of hand
Well, to the defense of P1 regarding the Final Fantasy piece. They didn't set the price on that one. Square Enix did. But other pieces are getting out of hand. The city predator ultimate is also a joke. They are basically asking a new statue price for, what, 5 extra proximity pieces and a "low" ES. I am getting priced out of the hobby by rich Chinese wideboys lol...
Definitely agree with all the points made. Prime1 are making some great detailed statues but to the cost as a collector, I cannot afford to always buy them. It’s so sad that as for myself, a collector for many years, am finding it too expensive to purchase the statutes, plus the shipping to the uk. I would have loved to purchase the city hunter predator. On seeing the sample piece, I think it is better than the jungle hunter.
Oh my gosh so many laughs watching this haha! FF6 was dear to me as well, super excited until I found out I had sell a body part or two to get it as well.
Always fun hearing your thoughts on crap like this
I bought the NieR Automata DX version Diorama and it was definitely mega overpriced. The only reason I bought it was because it's my first piece, I love NieR Automata and its probably gonna one out of a few statues I'll ever buy. If I was an avid collector I would've definitely passed hard on this.
I agree 100%. People wants to pay very little and then they go to Ebay and try to flip the statue for double of what they pay. Now, those same people are complaining about it. I hate this prices so I don't buy them. I really think is getting ridiculous and I will not contribute to that.
Prices are getting out of hand so I’m simply phasing myself out of buying more & keeping what I have.
EVERY YEAR WILL BE THE SAME, AND WILL ONLY GET WORST. AS IT ALWAYS DOES WITH EVERYTHING. I KNOW YOU WILL STILL GET THEM ANYWAYS. SO HAVE FUN, AND GOOD LUCK. THIS HOBBY FOR ME IS NOT IN MY HEART ANYMORE. JUST A WHOLE LOT OF BAD EXPIRIANCES, THAT I DO NOT NEED IN MY LIFE, AND WHEN THAT HAPPENS. IT IS JUST TIME TO MOVE ON. I AM TIRED OF PEOPLE'S GREED, AND LIES. SO I HONESTLY HOPE THAT YOU KEEP ENJOYING THE HOBBY. GOOD LUCK, AND TAKE CARE MY FRIEND.👊🏽
Holy moly 12000 dollars? Dude thats a down payment on the car and house. Fuck me
I whole heartily agree, the prices have been continuous been going up since the 90’s when I started collecting
Agree with all points made, I just hope that this absurd price spike was also caused by licenses and is not the new way forward.
yeah squares license is expensive.
people thought NieRs statue was expensive and overpriced, and that's just NieR. a small title with a small fanbase, albeit a super dedicated one.
now there's final fantasy which is a massive IP. so they can really milk that for money as opposed to a smaller IP like NieR.
I'm curious just to see what else squares license will bring forth for statues.
the producer of NieR, Yosuke Saito, said in the review trailer for the statue, that he would love to see one made of replicant Similar to automata since both games have a trio of main characters.
would love to see what they can do and will do.
I’ve been speaking with my wallet the past couple of years. Was a big XM collector but some of the prices weren’t just silly they seemed ludicrous to me. So I haven’t bought one of their prices for quite a while now despite there being quite a few I really REALLY wanted (and still do) but you have to have your own line in the sand… and stick to it.
What’s funnier still is that I have bought Prime 1 1/3 pieces the past 24 months because for every XM piece that I decided not to get on price, I justified a P1 1/3 for nearly the same price. That’s changed the past few months and just ordered what will likely be my last for a while: Punchline Joker… I love collecting these art pieces but it ms getting hard to justify when I used to be able to say “well it’s only the price of a small TV… now many of the cool pieces are the price of a home theatre system… or electric bike/scooter… go kart… 6 x PS5’s etc…. Getting very hard to see value in my $$’s in the new statues coming out
Yooooooooooo X deft agree !! Besides running out of room in my house but I hav deft chilled with buying !! The price is jus going crazy!!
This is mind boggling, as long as people keep paying those outrageous prices they will increase it nonstop
The only statues I'd pay over $1000 for are things I absolutely love, I've ordered the PCS Purgatori and may order the Dejah Thoris ( if they fix the awful base) but there is nothing else, unless they end up making a Salma Hayek from Dusk till Dawn, which apparently is a possiblity, but even with something like this I'd only buy maybe 2 a year, I'm still happy with a sideshow premium format when it's done right
I've been getting primarily custom 1:4 now. Can't afford licensed. Sideshow is still cheaper than my customs but their detail is shit. They may have passed a couple years ago but not in 2022.
I agree with you on all points except aftermarket prices being a good justification for price increases. The number of original buyers that will go on to sell a piece after purchasing at retail is very small percentage. That along with quality and community sentiment around a piece determines its value on the aftermarket. With that said even with the crazy markup in value on some few pieces only a small number of them will be available for sale to a very small number of people willing to and capable of buying that piece at it's new marked up price. Those collectors buying at marked up rates do not represent the statue buying community as a whole, as most collectors don’t have that kind of money to throw down all at once.
As a counter to my last point, that is why payment plans exist, to give collectors with less means the ability to make unwise decisions. Still to allow the aftermarket to sway pricing in any meaningful way seems shortsighted to me and would show an inability to read the full picture I think. In the end I think the most salient point you made is that collectors are willing to pay these prices even though as a community many balk at them. And yet I find myself and many other collectors starting to hesitate where there was no hesitation before. Starting to say no when all we would have said previously was yes. The frogs in the pot have realized that they are being boiled, the companies need to take care not to push their luck.
I completely agree and have been waiting for someone to say it. Aftermarket doesn't represent initial pricing.
I don't think the argument was saying aftermarket buyers represent the majority. I think the argument is that aftermarket purchases represent the golden opportunity- that a demand exists for people who will pay those high prices. I recently called out a popular TH-camr for selling his statues at the same prices as statues up for pre-order. Why would someone pay $1200 for a used statue when they could buy an updated version on preorder that's brand new? Pretty simple: he talked the piece up enough that people want it. Companies have caught on. They send pieces to TH-camrs to review, and the popular TH-camrs help reinforce some of the draw to purchase these statues, because the assumption is if they are reviewing it, they must have purchased it. That's why I love when Gem Mint highlights that he is reviewing a sample and does not own the piece. I've heard Mr. X do the same. And even further, Mr. X selling after market pièces for a super reasonable price sends the message that collectors still value affordability and a good deal.
@@bluscorpion I understand the reasoning being put forward. I'm arguing against the idea that it plays as big a role as many collectors seem to think. Yes, the aftermarket prices let the companies know that collectors are willing to and will pay more. However outside of P1 we are also getting ridiculous and steep price increases from other studios and many of those companies are not making pieces that go on to have massive markups in the aftermarket. It doesn't make sense with the line of thought being pushed about the aftermarket for a company like Tweeterhead which barely has any hits under their belt to be charging what they are for their new Joker or for PCS to charge as much as they have for Purgatori. The increase in price is industry wide and I think it's more out of necessity than many are willing to accept.
There's two conversations going on here. One one hand there are pieces like the FF6 from P1xSE and the P1 City Hunter. On the other hand we have a general price increase for all statues across the industry. The former I can give some credence to the aftermarket theory with how insane those prices are and for the latter I really cannot see it being the case.
Playing devils advocate, even if the aftermarket pricing played a huge role in the current pricing strategy of companies I think that would be very foolish strategy because of the points I mentioned in my previous comment.
Lastly spill the beans. What youtuber is selling older pieces at marked up prices?
Great point of view! I totally agree with you on this one.. it’s like the housing market, if people are willing to pay those insane prices the companies building the house’s will go up. It’s simple math.
For that price, I should be able to ride it to work
Pricing is crazy, my limit is $300. Granted I started collecting most recently and am currently at 12 statues.
Great video, I totally agree. most I've spent myself is 2k for a personal grail (secondary market), but I see the merits of both sides here.
That predator head looks sick but for $900 noooo freakin way
I love prime 1 statues the most but fuck those prices im glad they kept justice buster at 3k i thought that was high but these 5k+ price range is a no go
Man, with the whole country about to destroy itself from division I though we could at least agree Prime 1 was fucking crazy asking for $12k for… that. Nope! :(
They are crazy. But it’s justified
@@TheXtremeChannelMrX I don’t think you can be crazy AND justified lol. I do not think this piece will sell out, or even sell 100 pieces. There is no precedent for a statue at this price point. I bought that Kong v Godzilla for $6k because it’s HUGE, it’s gorgeous, it’s a full blown movie scene! This is not that, not half that, and twice the price. Full Joker.
@@stevenloube6784 I think you underestimate final fantasy following
@@TheXtremeChannelMrX maybe.
Square Enix pretty sure they can sell a lot out of 150 reserved for Japan. Even though the series creator question the price. If they only sell 100 total, it's still a win because of no license fee and no other retailers in Japan= max profit.
Plus, there are people do not know/care about FF but love collect expensive stuffs to show off.
My jaw dropped when I saw that price. I thought it was a mistake, that they put the decimal in the wrong spot. No sane person will pay for this...I hope.
Well said. Prices are getting higher but with everything else going on everything needs to be contextualised.
Great video Mr. X. I agree with all your points. The only people than can put a halt to increasing prices is THE CUSTOMER. When collectors finally make the decision that they will no longer purchase over priced statues, and the companies see their warehouses FULL of unsold pieces, then and only then will prices come back down to earth. If that doesn't happen, companies will price most of their customers out of the hobby. I've seen it happen with other hobbies. Don't think for a second that it can't happen here. Every beginning has an end.
There's making profit then there's fucking people sideways. 5k for a Predator piece? 12k for a 1/6 FF? That is just fucking insane. Not just P1, XM and SS are raising the prices but P1 takes the cake. They got popular and they wanna charge more now, a small portion of the customer base will keep buying and i guess that is enough for them. No way cost of a statue went x3/4 in the blink of an eye.
I agree 1000% with what you said here Mr.X. At the same time, I was one of those sour folks who really couldn't believe the price of that Terra Bradford statue. I was "for sure" in, until I wasn't. I do think these companies will continue to charge what people will pay but I also think the bottom has to drop eventually. There's so many options/choices now for collectors and people are getting much more picky in terms of what they are buying. good time to be a collector from that POV though!
I agree with everything you said Mr X. They have a right to charge these outrageous prices and I have a right to voice my objection by not buying the overpriced pieces. Best point in the video in my opinion is that these companies see what their pieces are going for on the aftermarket and figure they may as well get in on it on the forefront. Great video.
Well, I would say that whether a statue is worthy or not does not only depend on the cost. You can make a statue purely out of gold and charge for $100,000. Hardly anyone would think it's worthy in this case regardless of the cost.
Good video. Agree 💯. The more people will continue to spend their hard earned money, the more these companies will take chances increasing their prices.
I couldn't agree more. Prime 1 for example sold 1/3 pieces for 900$ now same size pieces are selling retail for 1500-1700$ and shipping at least doubled if not tripled
You are right prices are out of control and shipping is crazy it sucks that if you don’t have a pile of money for some of the ones you want and not just about the money the wait on some of these is nuts
The market is about to go pop boys.
There are some that have yet to hit the pre order status from P1. Now I'm nervous because they may price me out of the purchase.
Hopefully they realize they're pricing us out of purchases.
Would have to agree with all said ! Just really looking at the collection and not going after ones that don’t fit!! Even if they are cool!! Thanks as always!!
Fucking mad world! No matter if you have money or not
Being just 15 years old I could never imagine spending so much money on these things but they’re so interesting to me
It's true crazy how prices for everything are where they are. Me and my fiance have been trying to purchase a house for the last year but it has been a complete bidding war in South florida
I agree with your comments, just sucks it's taking the statues out of smaller collectors hands with the higher prices.
I totally agree. High end collectibles are a market I know I cannot afford. Do I wish I could? Sure, but (as you stated) there will always be a market for them as long as collectors that can afford it purchase them. I say enjoy what you love if you can afford it.
Hulk. Good vid. Long overdue...what will it take for the statue bubble to pop, so we can get down to more normal pricing? ...We could make the same statement for shipping. We need a kong bust for under $3,400... hope they listen to you Mr. X...
I definitely agree with the way the pricing is it's a for-profit company and if people are going to pay and it's going to flip on the aftermarket a company is not going to leave that money on the table or my only other thought would be is to produce a larger amount of the statues and sell them at the cheaper prices. The one thing I will disagree with that I think needs to be worked on it shipping prices. I think that has went out of control and too many excuses to have these prices so over-inflated. Now if the company can show that they're not making a dime off of the shipping and they're giving their best discount because they're a corporation then it is what it is cuz that's the price from the company that shipping it. I just don't think it's fair if they make a dollar off shipping
The best example of the price increase is the new reissue of the original Berserker Armor Guts but just a bloody version. The original was $999, the new one is $1299. That’s a $300 increase, over 33% increase in price over a few years on the exact same statue.
My last statue i bought was hush superman for 1k direct from prime. Everday i go online and almost hit the button to buy jungle hunter 1/3 deluxe but on waitlist for deluxe bonus. If i get picked ,i will do it with just slight hesitation. These prices are insane now but the whole world is upside down . Just built a house and that was 50k more than expected.
Absolutely agree the only reason prices go up is because people buy them
You’re correct. The aftermarket totally f##ked the statue collecting.
prices are RIDICULOUS. No matter what you have to set limits and as you said it is because of us paying these ridiculous prices
I agree with you on a majority of this. The ultimate issue is we just went through a price increase with Prime1 that 1500-1700 range isn't that old.. more so given how slow they produce. If we are looking at 3k+ for pieces more often or even 2k+ for that matter demand will definitely decrease. I would still purchase a couple of pieces a year maybe (if they are amazing) but not as many as I normally would have.
I totally agree.. It's out of control and although I understand companies want to keep growing in size and revenue, there has to be someone in those companies sane enough to stop the non sense
12 k is still ridiculous
These prices are shocking, but it's happening everywhere, even smaller scale collectables like Hot Toys & Games Workshop have shot up in price, doesn't help that tax & bills also go up yet wages stay the same, also the after market is changing too, I'm finding less bargains & more scalpers all the time
I really appreciate the thought you put into this video. Economics is an interesting topic and as long as people are willing to desire the exclusivity of owning a limited edition piece then the price will continue to rise. As long as the quality continues to match the price and doesn’t suffer ad it’s not over produced we there is not much room to gripe. Now I just have to try and explain that to my penny pinching sig other.
This used to be fun, now just creates anxiety from the price to the limited runs. It’s about money now and moving away from general collectors
I totally agree with you. I honestly thought I read the price wrong on the hunter predator...I think I'm gonna get out pretty soon. Yes the statues are incredible, but it's so hard to consider such prices...obviously not too hard for some, as prime 1 is already saying low stock on the predator. Thanks always for your honest opinions and great video.
Interesting video. For many years i have been a collector of period artifacts, antiques and art, these things can be very expensive but they are extremely rare and mostly handmade by elite craftsmen using the finest materials. It's difficult to justify spending large amounts of money on mass produced chunks of moulded 'plastic'! Ultimately, one votes with ones wallet, each to their own but I couldn't help feeling cheated by these costs, given what these things are made of. I shall stick with my taxidermy, duelling pistols, furniture and art. Pricey, for sure but exquisite quality and beauty will win every time!
Taxidermy, duelling pistols, furniture and art (and Bowen statues)?! We really need a Stuka home tour!
@@spinnerrackstudios Hahaha, I have often thought of doing one but the wife isn't keen, plus my superhero pieces wouldn't be of interest to most of the modern collectors. Our Deyrolle stuffed vulture and Faure Le Page 17th century duelling pistols in particular are sensational! It's fair to say that we're quite an eccentric couple 8-)
As a Transformer Movie fan i like prime 1 studio optimus prime the last knight statue . It motivates me a lot like his personality and voice and commanding type. It's my dream to achieve it. I think you also inspire from these statues and thank for showing your these collection i am happy to see it and you are right about price hike and company who are making a lot of money.
Ya I noticed that too the price was crazy. I recently bit the bullet on a 1445US diorama an AOT jimei palace, I usually keep my budget normally under 1400 as much as I can, anything over that its a coin toss. Even small 7inch pvc figures are costing like $300. I definitely will have to be selective with what I buy. Only thing is when u see a masterpiece that's all it can take to suck you in, but $12k licensed or not thats pushing it to far, thats just P1 being greedy.
Just wow😲 on the price for that final fantasy statue, I figured it would be around the cost of a 1/3 knowing it 1/6 but with so much detail, I do think it's of a higher quality. Its beyond me to justify that price point, other than they know it will sale, so why not. I do think you raised valid points on the way the markets work, in general as well as in the collecting community. In the end I think the most reasonable path is to vote with one's wallet🧐. I love many different collectibles but, in the end I only order if I feel the price asked matches what is for sale as well as my budget.
You brought up some great things in this video. Loved it
HOLY SHITT!!!! THAT'S CRAZY!!!!
It's just a reality of the market right now. With the way licensed products are being priced though, the custom market will grow even more I think.
I completely agree. People do not understand how businesses work and they always like to assume the company is just evil and greedy. It's nonsense.
Yeah secondary market prices may have had a huge impact on the company's decision.And when less people start buying statues due to high price,they will just reduce the ES,like XM did.Only worthwhile pieces are some custom groups.Also I am now more into getting anime statues,lots of companies in the game and that keeps the price fairly down for unlicensed pieces
Great point
Valid points. Ill pay my last preorders - only a handfull from Prime 1 and 20 or so 1:10 from Iron Studios, and then Ill be on low heat, only picking up the occassional trade or one special yearly preorder.
First saw Prime 1’s FF7 piece screenshot priced over $16K. Months after I started buying a Prime 1 and Queen Studios pieces, now it’s putting my chips into one or two baskets.
prices are out of hand, really love that statue too.
Yes, there fucking crazy. Especially that Final Fantasy statue.
I just hope collectors speak with their wallets with this shit or it's just gonna get worse.
TOTALLY RIDICULOUS but as mentioned that is due to us. Our own demise to self sabotage.
Shit is def out of hand
Well, two years on since getting my Hush Poison Ivy, I today took a look at the current Prime 1 range, thinking I might contemplate another statue. Only to find the prices have more or less doubled since then. That counts me out of any further purchases from them. Seriously way too much. This reminds me of the vastly inflated GPU prices of a year or two ago which were driven insanely high partly by people willing to pay those prices for the 'must have' next gen cards (along with blaming rising manufacturing costs, pandemic etc). But unlike those, this statue market is almost certainly not going to 'stabilise' and prices drop again in the way GPUs did. More's the pity. But yep, silly, as nigh on 100% inflation in the space of two years or so is simply profiteering in extremis. Well, it was nice knowing Prime 1 for that brief period in time...
The Michael Scott jokes never get old. Great video!
Prices in general have risen, I do feel that there are enough variety and scale to stay within budget if you have the strength of will!
I'm at a point that I buy only a handful of brand new statues a year from companies like P1, most of my statues I buy secondhand. This is not by chose but by necessity
The pricing strategy clearly exceeds the growth in our inflation rate. Prime one is moving into gouging the customers mode these days.
Supply and demand. They'll be around and charging the prices they want/need as long as there are buyer's.
Last year Prime1 asked 700$ for shipping 1/4 statue to Europe. (I cancel order because 700 for statue + 700 for shipping and 20% EU tax is too much for me)
But the thing about those increased aftermarket prices on those statues is there’s only a few people who are paying that price, it’s not everyone. They can charge more money but they’ll most likely have smaller batch numbers and sell less in the long run.
Yeah, prices are getting insane and they are still selling out. I'm digging PCS right now because prices are looking really nice since they've fallen out of favor for the moment.
I can't remember where I heard this but someone once said that something is worth whatever people are willing to pay. This not only applies to us statue collectors but to everything else as well, IE cars, clothing, groceries, etc. Some of these price hikes are legitimate but a lot of times it's just greed and that's just sad.I am fortunate that my house is paid off but look at the housing market, the prices are outrageous as well as renting nowadays.
It’s crazy to think I felt that many of Prime One 1/3 pieces were way over priced a year ago, and now those same prices seem very reasonable.
I am a fairly new collector (started just over a year ago). And when i started this hobby i reallyhoped to own a prime 1 statue someday. But recently when i see their prices i just decided that it is not worth it and i just not going to look at them anymore. I mean what's the point? If you can't afford it, why look at it? I am just going to keep an eye out for their berserk puece that they recently announced (the griffith and guts diorama) if that is too expensive than i am just going to forget about them all together
Great point. Amazing piece but crazy prices
Great points! Thanks for the insight.
I would absolutely buy more statues and collectibles if prices were not so extravagant.